


I'll Take Care of It

by her_majesty_wears_jeans



Series: Outside the (Ask) Box [2]
Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: Basically no dialogue, Camaraderie, Canon Compliant, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fic, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 09:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20905721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/her_majesty_wears_jeans/pseuds/her_majesty_wears_jeans
Summary: Nadine and Henry have a clear understanding.





	I'll Take Care of It

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "I'll take care of it" + Henry and Nadine camaraderie

The first time Henry McCord asks for Nadine’s help, she is just about to make up an urgent phone call to allow the Secretary to cut short her meeting with the Egyptian ambassador. Henry walks into her office unannounced, inquiring if he could get a minute before he steals his wife away for a lunch.

Nadine’s careful not to show her confusion as he, rather awkwardly, tells her about senator Richardson from Missouri who has been quite vocal about the neckline of the dress the Secretary wore to a gala a few nights prior. It’s stupid, the guy is obviously a jerk, and Henry wouldn’t want to bother her but…

Nadine shakes her head. She can feel the anger radiating from underneath his rational exterior, and she more than understands his frustration. She promises to take it to Daisy and help her shut it down – shut Richardson up – before the Secretary has to witness yet another downside of social media.

The second time, Henry McCord’s phone call saves her from having to pace in her office. Nadine’s worried and anxiously waiting for an update on the Secretary’s condition, so she’s pleased when he foregoes empty cover stories and cuts to the chase, letting her know the Secretary is physically fine but upset and concerned she’s provoked a war with China.

Nadine huffs. She’d handle minister Chen. Surprisingly, Henry says he assured the Secretary of that even before making the call. The problem is he wasn’t able to convince her to go home; she would be on her way back to the State Department in an hour.

Nadine doesn’t know what to answer to him. If rationalizing and gentle persuasion didn’t work, she couldn’t do much else. She was already bold enough to ask the Secretary if she was all right. Henry sighs, admitting he knew that, and thanks her nevertheless. A few moments later Nadine rounds up Mike B and Laura Vargas and helps the Secretary the only way she can: by keeping things quiet.

The third time, she’s preparing to hold the fort down for the rare weekend the Secretary has decided to take off when she runs into Henry McCord by the elevators. She pauses briefly to make small talk. He still insists on first-name basis; something she finds somewhat hard to adopt but tries anyway.

She apologizes when he’s interrupted by the text she receives. She frowns while reading it; a proposal they’ve worked on for several weeks apparently needs to be looked over a second time. Sensing something’s up, Henry makes a joke about having to go home and starting the weekend alone, but Nadine hears the disappointment in his voice. It’s nothing, she assures him with a smile. Nothing that would require the Secretary’s immediate attention.

Henry looks so delighted Nadine doesn’t dare joke about her weekend that will most probably start and end with paperwork maybe accompanied by a glass of Merlot if she’s alone in the office by the time it gets dark.

They have a clear understanding. She serves at the pleasure, and he’s promised to love and to cherish. It means that on any given day, Elizabeth McCord comes first.

So the next time Henry comes to Nadine, asking her to dance and then to keep an eye on the Peruvian prime minister who’s maybe had too much champagne and therefore is a little too eager to get an audience with the Secretary, she gives him a reassuring nod. “I’ll take care of it.”

And that’s what she does.


End file.
